1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to fasteners; more particularly, to tool-less fastening systems for furniture, cabinets, fixtures, wood, plastic, metal, and a variety of substrates. It also pertains to fasteners that use, in one format or another, a tight friction fit as the pertinent fastening element.
2. Background
Increased commercialization of ready to assemble (“RTA”) furniture and the requirement to assemble cabinets, store fixtures, and many other wood and plastic products, faster, easier and at the point of sale is driving the requirement to develop fastening systems capable of these attributes.
Additionally, the increasing cost of transportation has driven case good furniture manufacturers to develop a means of shipping their products in a more condensed manner so as to reduce total cargo volume. The problem is there is no cost effective way to quickly assembly the product after shipping that is simple, sturdy, tool-less and invisible after assembly has been or is currently available in the market. While many attempts have been made to develop fasteners for this purpose, none have been commercially successful in meeting all these characteristics.
For many years the only available products used to join wood parts together were nails, glue, screws, nuts and bolts. All of these fasteners were used primarily in the furniture or cabinet manufacturing plant for assembly of their products. Furniture, cabinets, and other wood products were preassembled at the factory and delivered to the store for purchase. The first products were of simple construction and were shipped with instructions on how to screw and glue them together. As the demand for less expensive ready to assemble furniture gained in popularity the first product to make it easier to assemble was the cam-lock. A cam-lock fastener is comprised of a metal pin that screwed into the face of the board and a round metallic female component that was placed in a hole close to the edge of the opposing wood panel. The metal pin is screwed into the opposing panel face and then inserted into the opposing hole where the cam housing is located. The head on the metal pin is engaged in a circular style cam. The cam has a location for a screw driver to turn it clockwise thus connecting the pin head to the cam and turning it such that the two panels are drawn together. The female housing containing the cam element has a small indent or cleat to catch the pin and keep it from backing out and coming loose.
While cam-locks are now ubiquitous in the wood working environment and have helped the industry to further develop products that can be mass produced and shipped flat packed they have serious limitations.
The first limitation is realized during installation when a bag full of hardware to include cam-locks and other fasteners and hardware arrive with the product. The time, complications and instructions required for many people to understand how to use these products can be significant. Many people, even though experienced and skilled in using these products can take hours in putting the final product together. Cam-locks and other fasteners currently available in the market cannot be preinstalled by the manufacturer which further complicates this process and adds considerable time for the consumer or professional installer to complete the assembly.
Another important issue is that cam-locks and screws come loose, even falling out in many cases after the assembly is completed. The assembled furniture or cabinet then begins to wobble and eventually comes completely loose or falls out. This problem is well known in the industry and necessitates most cam lock assembled furniture to be tightened up periodically to keep this from happening.
The third issue is with visibility. Furniture and cabinet manufacturers many times try to hide the fastener from visibility after assembly but this is very difficult to do in most cases. When fastener systems are visible after assembly the assumed value of the furniture is considerably less as it is both unsightly but also certifies that it was not assembled in a professionally equipped factory.
Following the invention of the cam-lock there have been several attempts to patent fastener devices that would compete with or improve on the cam-lock device. Most have failed for one reason or another. One of the common causes for failure is the impracticality of successfully installing the product using high speed commercially available machines.
As such, there is a need for a fastener which allows wood and plastic cabinet and furniture products to be flat packed and to be assembled 4 to 5 times faster than with other fastener systems currently available. Additionally the fasteners allow the manufacturer to pre-install the fasteners so there is no “bag” of hardware. The assembly only requires that the pre-installed fasteners connects to the slot in the wood and either slides or pushes the panels together. There is no need for any tools required or hours of frustration reading many pages of instructions. This new fastener results in a sturdy piece of furniture or cabinet with all fastener locations being invisible after assembly. Of considerable importance is that the fasteners remain tightly held in place and never require periodic tightening to keep the furniture or cabinet from becoming wobbly or loosening up. Of additional importance is that the fastener is extremely economical both in its method of manufacture and in its application or insertion into the wood panels. The panels only require the use of conventional wood working tools to install. Factories or woodworking shops with the ability to drill holes in the edge of a panel and to machine or router slots in the face of a panel can easily and successfully install these fasteners. Furthermore, there is a need to secure an adjustable “fixed shelf” having an invisible joint while using no tools during assembly.